The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-07-06
THE WILD FRESHMAN.
The Fast Train From London to Holyhead
En- route to Dublin and Queenstown.


En- route to Dublin and Queenstown.
The wild Irishman is the fast train
| which carries the American mails from
London to Holyhead, en- route TO Dub
lin and Queenstown. 1t drives down
from Euston to Chester at speed of
| forty miles or more an hour. and issu-
ing from that quaint, gabled. and gal
lerled city through a gap in the splen-
| did walls, il continues ON its course to
Holyhead along the picturesque shore
of North Wales.
Many Americans travel by it, as in
leaving or in joining the Atlantic
steamer at Queenstown they can save
several hours by taking this route. but
| 1t Is usually night when they are borne
along. and the journey finds no dwell
| ing-place in their memories Pre-
| cipitous cliffs frown down upon the
| metcor-like train; on one side are the
stormy waters of the ST. Georges chan
mel, and on the other the mountains
descend without any intervening foot
| hills; but by means of tunnels, en-
bankments, and yiaduets every natural
| obstacle in the route of the Wild Irish
| man has been overcome.
! The distance between Chester and
J
| two hours; a tubular bridge spans the
Menai Strait, the ferrying of which
| formerly led TO many tragedies: an
other bridge is hung over the Conway
| River, and Penmaenmawr is pierced
by tunnel, through which the train
winds ike ring through the nose Of
savage.
| When the train leaves Chester it al
| most Immediately crosses the bound
| airy line between Cheshire and North
| Wales, and for the rest of the distance
to Holyhead it Is in that country.
On the other side of the train lies
| country of increasing hiilincss-a land
| scape ike that of England, with trim
hedge-rowS, matched cottages. and the
Solid-looking seulptureSque foliage
which is a sort of atonement for the
| persistent humidity of the climate.
| Hawarden, Mr.. Gladstone's seat, is
about two miles off the line, and about
| twenty minutes after leaving Chester
| the train runs close against the walls
of Flint Castle-a gaunt mass of naked
| rock, upon which decay has set no sign
of regret, and age has put no assuag-
ing mantle. The castle was built by
| Edward L., and Shakespeare has made
its ''rudc ribs and "tattered' battle
| ments one of his scenes in his play of
! Richard III.
Behind the hills which slope down
| to Flint is Holywell, town which de-
| rives its name from miraculously CO.
| pious spring, of such efficacy in heal
| ing that the beautiful gothic shrine
| built over it, and ascribed To the gen
| erosity of the mother of Henry VII. is
| hung with the crutches and trusscs of
those who have been cured by bathing
| in it.
| The Wild Irishman scarcely slackens
| its speed at Rhyl, the Hat and rectau-
| gular little watering-place whose noisy
| eXcursioniStS from Lancashire and
| Yorkshire battle in Il yellow mixture of
| mud washed down from the Dee and
| the Mcrscy. But presently we cross "A
| river which, flowing down from be-
| tween high hills, empties into the sea
| within sight of the train, at a point
where massive headland iuts out
| ward, and reaching the farther side,
we are borne under the shadow of Il
| clitl-like wall. We look out and up.
| and there are towers, battlements, and
| parapets. These are SO high, and the
| train is SO close To the base, that we
| have to almost dislocatc our neck in
| order to see the summit 1t is cas-
| tie, not "A cliff; but it seems To grow
out of the rock upon which it stands,
and when il was built nature and art
| joined hands to give il double
strength.
When Edward l. had conquered the
Welsh he built three great castles To
! keep the yauquished down. and though
dismantled and despoiled, they are
! still very substantial examples of the
architecture of his time; one is at Car
narYon, another at Beamaris, and the
third is this at Conway, the common
| name of the river we have just crossed,
the castle, and the little town which
| lies under the castle. shut within a
harp-shaped wall which formerly had
| twenty-four round towers.
\ minute or two after the train
| leaves Conway the mountains begin to
crowd down upon the Wild Irishman,
and threaten To shove the line into the
sea. 1t is these that the traveller from
America sees from the deck of the
| ocean steamer as she passes up the St
Georges Channel To Liverpool They
are northern spur of the Snowdon
range, and among the huddled masses
rises one, IA very Gibraltar of peak,
higher than all the rest.
Once again we are in darkness. but
| this time the revcrbcTations are not
those of tunnel. The sounds are hol-
| low and metallic; we are crossing the
strait by the vast tubular bridge which
| Stephenson built between 1916 and
| 1850, and which put an end 10 the fire.
quent accidents that had previously oc-
| CURED to passengers crossing by the
| ferry. The Britannia Bridge, as it is
| called, consists of eight tubes resting
| on three towers, and il spans the
stream at a height of 104 feet. 1t is
| ,S4l feet long. and the tubes are said
| to contain II 400 tons of iron Some
| fellOw-passenger is sure to put US III
| possession of these Dimensions, but we
who have seen the Brooklyn Bridge
can listen unmoyed, and give him in
| return the statistics of a much greater
achievement.
One end of the bridge-that by which
we cnter-is in CarnarYonshire, and
when we reach the other we are in the
| island of Anglesey, the Mona of early
| English history, aud the last refuge of
| the Druids. 1t Is not very large
| island, only twenty miles from north
TO south, and twenty-eight miles from
| east to west. The surface Is rolling
and Gf such word can be employed
to describe anything in nature) COM
monplace, but. except in the straits,
the seaward edge IS a long line of
cliffs of varying height, at whose feet
| many a ship has come to grief. There
are many Druidical remains on the
| island, cromlechs and other enigmati-
cal masses Of stone which the old hier-
| archy of the woods has left unex-
planned, and it was in Anglcsey that
| Suetonius burned the last of the Druids
in their own altar fires.
| A few miles from Holyhead we pass
within a short distance of Aberffraw,
the seat of the native Princes of Wales.
and thus the Wild Irishman completes
its course, and lands us at the gang
way of the channel steamer.
1t is then that we discover what an
empty, noiseless little place Holyhead
| is. 1t is the nearest port to Ireland,
and that is. and always has been, the
reason of its existence W. II. Ride
ing IN Hayper'e Magazine.
Lady Experts on the Violin.
There are two young Southern ladies
of more than ordinary musical talent
who are devoting themselves to the
Il